Thanks for providing a handout - very useful for people stuck in an office with no headphones :)

I would echo concern over ethics regarding privacy of data and whether public data can be used for research (some argue that public data is free game, others argue that even though it is public, the people posting that information did not intend for it to be used for any other purpose - including research!). Of course this ties in with a lot of the other highlighted issues - informed consent, right to withdraw, data ownership etc.

As Kandy mentioned, we've heard from participants who have encountered biases from "gatekeepers." How can we "educate" supervisors, review boards, editors etc.? Does this question relate to development of some standards for "quality"?

What do you most need in terms of resources on e-research ethics? We've heard about the need for an updated e-research ethics website or wiki, and guidelines that institutions can adapt. Training and webinars. What else? Ideas?

I also would like to raise potential for concern over the credibility and truthfulness of information that is gathered online. Some research suggests that it is very truthful (due to less powerful social norms, a degree of anonymity etc making the individual feel more comfortable being honest and open), whereas other research suggests that people may not be truthful, may dramatise things online or may deliberately engage in trolling or deceipt. A question for researchers is how do we determine the credibility of an online source?

Yes that often comes up and one response is that we do it in the same way we do for offline research by triangulation, probing and careful sampling which is fine for generated data but not a solution for naturally occurring data. How we can determine credibility is a really important question.

At the moment, I am gathering data through a large scale, mainly quantitative, study. However, I will be following this up with some qualitative research which may involve online interviews and/or focus groups so I can certainly do that then.

As I'm researching online risk, its an area where you really do need participants to be open and honest! For various reasons participants may wish to hide their risk behaviour or alternatively some may wish to exaggerate it.

That said, I do think that social media generally seems to help people be more open to discussion over sensitive topics, so I do feel it has many benefits to offer researchers and exciting opportunities for the future...

Sounds interesting? You make a great point: social media research can...should? blur the boundaries between quant and qual. Mixed and multi-methods may allow for member-checking and triangulation, resulting in more credible findings.

Absolutely, my research is going to involve a mixed-methods approach for that very reason - and also to allow deeper investigation of key issues highlighted by the larger quantitative data collection.

Thanks, my study is all about social media use and the motivations behind user engagement in online risk, including their positive and negative experiences (details on twitter @TheCyberPsyche for anyone who's interested in hearing more) :)

A comment from our session one thread from Kelsey: Interesting video via Janet Salmons on outcomes from the survey. It seems like the NSMNSS blog is best placed to serve as a hub of ethical best practice sharing and dialogue. PArtly because many case study blogs here dip into ethical reflections. More case studies and reflections on what people have done to overcome or rationalise ethical challenges would be helpful.What do other's think? Anything surprising from Janet's findings?-kelsey

Janet, I'd be interested for comments on today's poster session (http://nsmnss.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/digital-debate-poster-session-anita-van.html) - I found this an interesting approach to using closed networks: i.e. using a closed Facebook network but accessing feedback from that group via connected friends. What are your thoughts on the ethics of this approach?

One area we'd like to know more about is what the users of social media platforms think about their data being used for social research, we are making some assumptions here about what users think about privacy etc based on offline research but they may not be right. A team of NatCen researchers are researching that right now and will be providing interim findings on their research at the forthcoming SRA conference see http://the-sra.org.uk/

Did participants understand that what was posted would be used for research purposes? If so, that seems like an interesting way to use FB to collect data. Did the researchers "bracket" other info posted by participants on their own pages?

A good practice is to share transcripts/findings with participants for their verification. For some studies that may be best.

Comments to our questionnaire mentioned the need to be "moral" as researchers. I think to some extent we need to be honest and respectful as we can, not only during the study but later when considering ways to "re-purpose" data.

What do people think we should be asking social media users about in our primary research at NatCen, we know privacy and anonymity are issues we want to address. We'll be trying to gauge if users think their comments are 'fair game' given they are posted on public forums, but other ideas would be welcomed.

What about historical data to do with social media interactions? How would the longevity of information be affected by its dispersal over different platforms/servers?

There are now ways of capturing websites at moments in time, but in the future I could foresee people referencing twitter accounts/Facebook accounts that no longer exist (or only so in proprietary archives) or even posts that people later delete. I think this would be one of the challenges facing social media research.

Thanks Further, I will make a note of that. Using posts someone has deleted sounds dodgey ethically...

One point we haven't discussed is about HOW posts are analyzed and used-- whether identifiable info is used. The AOIR guidelines discuss the "distance principle" that may be relevant. See: http://bit.ly/YKoR89

If you're looking for a book on research ethics generally, you could try:Israel and Hay, Research Ethics for the Social Sciences http://www.sagepub.com/books/Book227156?siteId=sage-us&prodTypes=any&q=israel&fs=1

I advise my doctoral student researchers to create an online introduction, a "researcher's blog" that explains the study purpose and links to our university, so participants know the researcher is real and will respect ethical guidelines. I think that kind of approach builds credibility-- needed for qual research especially.

You can join us in session three or stay on for a bit and chat with Janet, don't forget to tell us your views about the key ethical issues by taking part in our survey:https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/e-ethics

About NSMNSS

Should social science researchers embrace social media and, if we do, what are the implications for our methods and practice? This network, led by NatCen Social Research and SAGE along with our affiliate supporters (see below) is for people using or seeking to use social media in social science research who want to explore the implications of that question.